The Final Results Of

theology. The phenomenal world—which, as we have seen, is conceived by Plato as a living being with a soul and a body—is represented in the Timams not only as the image or reflexion of the intelligible world, but also as a ' second god/ Thus, though it has k only a derived existence, it is regarded as possessing a relative completeness and self-sufficiency, which entitle it to be called divine, in contrast with all other creatures which draw from it their being and well-being. Furthermore, this ' second god' is called the 'son' and even the eonly-begotten son' of the first God. This idea is expressed in the concluding words of the Timams: "All our discourse about the nature of the universe hath here an end. Having received all living beings, mortal and immortal, into itself and being therewith replenished, this world has come into existence in the manner explained above, as a living being which is itself visible and embraces all beings that are visible, It is, therefore, an image of its maker, a god manifested to sense, the greatest and best, the most beautiful and perfect of all creatures, even the one and only-begotten universe." "With this idea of the sonship of the phenomenal universe—which is conceived as a living and conscious individual embracing all other creatures in itself—Plato seems almost to cross the border that separates the dualistic philosophy of Greece from the peculiar doctrines of Christianity. But,